General Chat

Having read the (mostly excellent) reviews on tripadvisor I happily booked the Amado Boutique Hotel for one night on Friday 5th September. We were travelling from Birmingham to visit family and attend a party to celebrate my uncles' 90th birthday.

When we arrived at 4.40pm the hotels door were locked, and not a sign of any member of staff. A note was on the door advising if no one was available to ring a phone number, which I did and left a message explaining that we had a reservation and were standing in the porch. There was also a note telling us to walk around to the back car park, through a wooden gate to where the managers apartment was situated, again I followed these instructions, but alas there was no one at home. It appears that this must be a common practice, but to my mind is a crazy unprofessional way to run a hotel.

We stood hanging around, until my partner said "lets just go and find another hotel", as we were driving off the car park a young woman walked past, I enquired if she knew the hotel, she mumbled that it was something to do with her Mother. I told her we were booked in, and she said she would go and get the key, ten minutes went by, and my partner walked around to the back car park to find the young woman walking back with the key. She opened up the front door and as we entered she said she would phone her Mother to tell her we were waiting. The young woman certainly needs some customer service training, as she appeared to be totally disinterested in our plight. Whilst she was waiting to speak to her Mother I told her not to bother as we had decided to leave. I kept my mobile phone with me for the rest of the day, I received no calls or message from the management, so clearly they did not value my custom.

I can not comment on any aspects of the hotel as unfortunately we did not get further than the reception. We have travelled extensively both in the UK and abroad, arriving at all hours of the day or night and have NEVER encountered a hotel that was totally unmanned.

I have run my own business and appreciate that things can happen unexpectedly to disrupt the the working routine. However, I know the immense value of giving excellent customer service, it only takes a few people to give negative comments and they will soon override the positive happy comments left by customers. Reading back over these reviews, perhaps its one area that seems to be lacking, and one that can do more harm than any other aspect of a business.

All of the reviews have been glowing except three (four now with mine). The negative reviews all seem to have a common theme running through, which is poor/bad/ dreadful customer service.

Wondering now do I contact the hotel or just put it down to experience.

"YOU NEVER GET A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION"

Give them a very bad review on trip advisor.

Fawlty Towers springs to mind :-D

To be fair, having looked at TA, the manager has posted in reply on some reviews of 4 weeks ago that

"We are very new to the hotel 'world'."

that is no excuse for poor service but it might be teething troubles which will be ironed out with a bit more experience.

EDit Scrub that lol they have been there long enough, since the revamp last October is long enough to have ironed out any problems, sounds like they have underestimated how much effort running a B & B takes
:-)

RR I agree and I was extremely understanding, I was impressed that for a new venture they seemed to have got things right, thats why I ignored the negative comments. However, I have not heard from the Manager or anyone else. The manager seems to enjoy replying to the positive comments, but not so good with the negative ones. A simple phone call of explanation/ apology would have put the whole matter to an end. I believe in every business the customer is king.

Sorry Paula, had just edited before seeing your post, i revised my opinion having read further.

<3 <3 <3 Thanks you sweetie xx

It looked a very nice hotel, It had a "blue Plaque" outside saying it was the former home of George Formby.

"Turned out nice again"

How disappointing for you, and not even a mention of an apology from them :-(
What an unprofessional way to run a business, they don't deserve to survive, and neither do they deserve anything but a terrible TA review!!

Having worked in hotels in the past, and, since marrying hubby, who has been in hospitality industry all his life, having lived in plenty of hotels, I am constantly amazed, nay, gobsmacked when I happen to overhear conversations of holidaymakers/fellow diners etc along the lines of....
"when we retire we're going to open a nice little bar in sunnybeach"
OR
"when we retire we're going to run a little B&B in sunshineville"

Huh???
What on earth makes people think
a) that they'll suddenly be capable of understanding and running the business as and when it suits them, and without prior experience?
b) that it's a cushy number not requiring bags of energy and hard work?
c) that they can take time off?
Duuhhhh :-P

I am quite fussy when booking hotels/B&Bs and we have stayed in some lovely ones - not necessarily the most expensive. I am always amazed at how much work goes into running a successful business - you really have to WANT to do it, and be the right sort of person (I definitely am not the right sort!). Sometimes it's the little things, like the proprietor appearing with 2 glasses of chilled wine, or a big fluffy bathrobe, or the owner's exceptional local knowledge, that make all the difference.

I hope you do get a reply, Paula, their customer skills could do with a shake-up!

We have stayed at some excellent up-market Boutique Hotels usually they have the highest standards in decor, food wine and definitely customer service. I suppose I expected this one to be the same, unfortunately we did not get the opportunity to test the rest of it out.


I will keep you posted.

Paula



what about money????



Did you pay TripAdvisor on booking, or was it one of the deals where you don't pay until check in, such as booking.com offers?



If the former ..................... contact your credit card company.



I have to say that I now use booking.com more than TripAdvisor ................ deals are better for exactly the same places :-)

Hello Sylvia. I booked it privately and would have paid on checking in.

no worries then!

Trip Advisor is a bit scary. I gave a bad review of a pub (no dark ale on tap, no bottled beer, and surly attitude ' Do you want lunch' (in a bored tone) 'No, not now' was my response) - and over 100 people found it useful :-S
But, also gave good review of a hidden museum in the 'sticks' (Bishop's Lydeard mill and rural museum, Somerset) that sister and I found, We thought a half hour look would do - 3 hours later and the most wonderful cream tea (50% discount) with really delicious home-made gluten-free scones was worth the money!! Lots of people found that review useful :-D Brilliant 'accidental' museum.

TripAdvisor also remove bad reviews if the place reviewed asks

I have been very lucky with almost every place I have booked over the past few years, whether self catering cottages or somewhere to lay my head for just a night or two. I read every review I can find and if there are more than a couple of negative reviews I scrub the place from my list.

Will really blot my copybook if one day I take us to a place which is awful!!

Hope you found somewhere nice to stay eventually.

Lizx

Last year we needed to spend 1 night in Jasper .............. in mid-August, which is high summer tourist season, and more expensive even than winter skiing season

We needed to stay in the centre of the town, close to the railway station ............. I went onto both TripAdvisor and booking.com .................. and could not believe a) the prices and b) the absolutely awful reviews


I finally decided to take a leap of faith, and book into an old hotel in the centre of town, less than 5 minutes walk from everywhere. The reviews had been terrible, but, as I say, I took a leap of faith.


It was a terrific place! We were really glad that we stayed there.


Most of the reviews turned out to be based on the fact that it was an old hotel, built around 1930!

The room was clean, large, beds comfortable, bathroom large, clean and well-supplied with towels, soap, hairdryer, etc .............. and it was quiet.


Sometimes, I do really wonder why people say what they do!

It appears the General Manager at Amado Boutique Hotel, responded to this review, yesterday

"I am extremely confused how you were able to write a review and shall be discussing this matter with TripAdvisor.

The hotel was closed on Friday September 5th and we have absolutely no record of your booking. This is why the hotel was unmanned and why you did not receive a follow up call. "

Someone made the mistake by the sound of it to not book you in...very careless....

I find that there is a more casual attitude to business these days.
I was thrown into having a B&B plus holiday flats at the age of 26 and I had 2 small children.you have to be so careful to note everything down.

These days ,reading things like trip advisor,you see the customer reviews and make your decision.

When my husband was so ill and we couldn't have family stay I booked 2 cabins in a nice place nearby for the family to stay.It was lovely,so I booked it the following year...

Disaster...they arrived and they'd overbooked....it was one of the children's birthdays as well and they had the cake and things with them to celebrate .

After a lot of hassle they found 2 cabins at the back ,think used for staff and were disgusting.I took photos of broken chairs etc and posted them on trip advisor.
The company had been in financial trouble and ended up losing the business .

If I don't have service ,I do complain,so I would certainly put your complaint on trip advisor.
Like Sylvia I have used booking.com and found that to be excellent.